On the first days of summer vacation, Maylie Macias ’26 sits with her family enjoying the early June sunshine. Conversation about everything from the final exams Macias had just finished to stories about friends filled the afternoon until, suddenly, her day took a turn upon hearing about the detention of one of her friends by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (U.S. ICE). Anxiety surged through her body as she wondered who would be next.   Macias said she and her family felt a deep sense of apprehension as they learned more about the raids.

“[There] was  an unspoken fear between me, my parents and my cousins,” said Macias. “We all just had that same look on our faces. We looked at each other and just didn’t know how to process this.”

Los Angeles, known for its diverse immigrant community, is home to nearly 3 million foreign-born residents, roughly one-third of its population, according to ABC7. Since the beginning of the raids, ICE has made at least 4,163 arrests in the greater Los Angeles area, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

73.3% of students at the school come from an immigrant background, according to a Chronicle poll. Macias, a co-leader of the First Generation Immigrant Ally Club (1GIA), comes from a family of immigrants. Her father works alongside undocumented employees, and she said she felt the impacts of ICE on her community almost immediately.

“It is not just an attack on immigrants, but  an attack on Latino communities, and that’s why it feels so personal,” Macias said. “It puts us in a state of fear.  It makes us feel as though we have no representation or rights due to the lack of due process right now. Everybody is at the risk of being sent away without that process.” 

Natalie Ascorra ’24 said she was alarmed by the ICE raids, expecting more from Los Angeles’s  status as a sanctuary city and Mayor Karen Bass’ response to the raids.

“It was definitely a huge scare to me,” Ascorra said. “It’s still a constant worry that I have. But, what stood out to me was that LA is supposed to be a sanctuary city, and it proved not to be. It was alarming to see the reaction of the city. Our mayor didn’t protect LA as much as she should have.”

Upper School History Teacher Ingrid Sierakowski said  she felt uneasy upon hearing about the ICE raids in the news. 

“I can’t say that I was entirely surprised, given the administration’s approach toward immigrants,” Sierakowski said. “I am very familiar with folks who were put in a state of fear as a result and absolutely empathize with those who were and are undocumented.”

Ascorra  said she was most concerned about the children of immigrant families, especially those whose parents were in fear of being deported.

“[Children of immigrants]  always have to be awake,” Ascorra said. “They have to be alert. They have to be a lot older than they should be. They can’t really be kids. Children of immigrants have to mature very fast. Kids can’t be kids.” 

Sierakowski said the challenges undocumented families face often remain hidden on campus, since fear of exposure keeps many from speaking openly.

“Part of the reason the immigration issue and the struggles of immigrants are overlooked at Harvard-Westlake is due to the fact that undocumented people,  due to fear, are often very private about their status in this country,” Sierakowski said. “It is the same fear that  forces immigrants to not be vocal about their personal or family struggles, [leading]  their issues to become invisible to the community,”

The ICE raids are  motivated by the Trump Administration’s desire to increase national security and boost the U.S. economy, according to the Associated Press. However, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022 and paid higher state and local tax rates than the top 1 percent of households in 40 states, according to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy. Around 45% of Americans support increasing the frequency of ICE raids at workplaces where people who are in the U.S.  are illegally employed, according to the Pew Research Center.

AlthoughParker Rockwell ’27 acknowledges both the positive and negative aspects of the raids, he said he is  in overall support of the ICE raids. 

“The concept behind [the ICE raids]  is good,” Rockwell said. “We should be trying to deport  dangerous illegal immigrants from the country.  The biggest positive is that we are deporting   people who are not supposed to be here, people who have committed dangerous crimes and are a threat to the country.  We’re getting them out of the country and back to where they’re from, and that’s a very good thing. Getting ride of these dangerous people ultimately reduces costs for American taxpayers. There are some law-abiding illegal citizens that have also been deported along with others.They’re deported seemingly unprovoked, and that’s just a consequence of it.” 

Barron Linnekens ’26 said while he is in full support of immigration into the United States, he believes that all immigrants should come into the country legally.

“It’s important  to understand that they broke a law by crossing the border,” Linnekens said . “This country was built on immigrants. We need different kinds of people because this country would be boring [otherwise]. Immigration needs to happen, but there has to be a process or the system is broken.” 

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has introduced “safe zones”, which protects students during their commute, changed bus routes and distributed preparedness guides to immigrant families. Teachers have created hotlines and rapid-response networks to help students manage fear and uncertainty, according to the Washington Post.

Across the nation, similar measures have been adopted. A new policy from New York’s school system prohibits ICE from entering school property and utilizing school facilities, according to the New York City Council.  

Head of Upper School Beth Slattery said the school  has avoided making public statements about the raids in the interest of the safety of students.  

“Making public statements can put kids at risk, so we have tried to walk a line of supporting individuals directly instead,” Slattery said. “We have mostly communicated one-on-one rather than putting out a statement  in an effort to make people feel more safe. As a private institution, we would never allow immigration agents on campus without a warrant.   We are not legally obligated to cooperate.”

Sierakowski said  the school  should provide assistance and support families who may be struggling.  

“One good approach would always be to reassure the community that their institution is there to offer support,” Sierakowski said. “They [the school]  should at least acknowledge that various members of our community may be affected directly or indirectly.” 

Conversely, Rockwell said the school should focus on education instead of politics.

“The school has a responsibility to remain neutral and not polarize itself politically, which  in the past, it has done with certain topics.” Rockwell said. “They don’t have a responsibility to reach out or make a a statement because their job is to teach, not to be affiliated politically with the modern world.” 

Macias said  the school should be there for students in this time because of how diverse the student body is. 

“Harvard-Westlake should at least show support for their students,” Macias said. “The first-generation, immigrant and Latino communities at Harvard-Westlake are present. These are communities are being affected. There are students who are on visas, and people whose parents are undocumented. We all come from so many different backgrounds. No matter what, you could be impacted by these policies.”